Northridge Enjoys Weekend in Vegas : College football: Trice breaks his school record with 278 yards in 24-18 victory.

A tumultuous week that included protests, suspensions and a boycott of practice concluded Saturday night in the Silver Bowl with an additional surprise for the Cal State Northridge football team.

The Matadors won, downing Nevada Las Vegas, 24-18, in a nonconference game for their first victory over an NCAA Division I-A team since 1976, when they defeated Cal State Fullerton.

Robert Trice led Northridge’s assault on the hapless Rebels, who dropped to 1-5 amid calls for Coach Jim Strong, a former assistant at Notre Dame, to resign.

Trice, a senior from Rocky Point, N.C., carried 35 times for a school-record 278 yards and three touchdowns before a crowd of 10,380.

Trice has set the school rushing record in consecutive games. He gained 261 yards against Division II Sonoma State two weeks ago.

The Matadors’ victory will be considered an upset in some circles, but not in the Northridge huddle.

“We had adversity off the field, but on the field with the practices we had, I knew we had a great opportunity,” defensive tackle Victor Myles said.

The Matadors celebrated their victory by giving Burt an ice bath late in the game--one he was unable to enjoy until later.

Burt was doused well before the game was out of reach. A four-yard touchdown run by Omar Love and a two-point conversion cut Northridge’s lead from 14 points to six with 2:18 left.

It was Love’s second scoring run in four minutes, and it naturally caused a soaking Burt some concern.

“I told the kids they were celebrating too soon,” the coach said.

Burt said he didn’t relax until a Hail Mary pass by Rebel quarterback Bob Stockham was intercepted by Northridge’s Robert Crosby on the final play of the game.

“This is the biggest win I’ve ever had as a coach,” said Burt, in his eighth season at Northridge. “This team had so much adversity. But they believed in one another and that’s what we’re about--playing football and maintaining dignity in doing so. And that’s what we did.”

Northridge won for the second time after opening with three losses. And the Matadors did it without half their starting secondary.

Vincent Johnson, a junior cornerback, was serving a one-game suspension for cursing Bob Hiegert, the school’s athletic director, in an on-campus meeting on Thursday.

Gerald Ponder, a senior free safety, stayed behind when the team bus left on Friday to protest Johnson’s suspension.

Johnson’s verbal blast of Hiegert came two days after the athletic director warned Northridge players who missed practice or sat out games that they risked having their scholarships being revoked.

On Monday, nearly the entire Matador team boycotted practice to protest the lack of a meal plan at Northridge.

But that was all forgotten, for a time, against the Rebels.

Trice’s longest run of the game, 53 yards, went for the touchdown that broke Las Vegas’ back with 4 minutes 19 seconds remaining. It gave Northridge a 24-10 lead after the Rebels pulled to within 17-10 on a four-yard run by Love with 5:55 remaining.

Myles, who made four tackles, including a sack, said the Matador defense did not let down late in the game even though it was playing without its leader, linebacker O.J. Ojomoh.

Ojomoh, Northridge’s top tackler, was forced from the game with a shoulder injury late in the third quarter.

“We lost our leader,” Myles said. “That’s just like the offense losing our quarterback.”

Northridge dominated on both sides of the ball until the fourth quarter. The Matadors outgained the Rebels, 516-304, and Las Vegas scored both of its touchdowns in the last six minutes.

Trice had three receptions for 34 yards and completed a 23-yard pass on an option play. All together, he accounted for 335 yards.

Trice credited his offensive line and the improved play of quarterback J.J. O’Laughlin, who completed 18 of 35 passes for 212 yards.

“This feels real good,” Trice said. “Some people probably thought we should stay Division II, but we knew we could play with them.”

The Matadors shredded UNLV despite playing with a new right side of the offensive line.

Charlie Williams, a two-year starter, broke his hand when he caught it in a teammate’s helmet during pregame drills. He was replaced by Jeff Duke at tackle.

Eric Thomas played guard in place of Jon Beauregard, who flew into Las Vegas late Friday to rejoin the team after he walked off the team bus early Friday morning at the urging of protesters who did not want the Matadors to play.

“We just came together as a team and said, ‘Let’s do it,’ ” Thomas said. “We had nothing to lose and everything to gain.”